Holographic metastability

TL;DR

This paper demonstrates how supersymmetric QCD in a slice of AdS space can naturally produce metastable vacua, with a novel approach replacing Seiberg duality constraints with anomaly inflow and cancellation.

Contribution

It introduces a holographic model of metastable supersymmetry breaking that avoids the need for small parameter tuning by utilizing anomaly inflow instead of traditional Seiberg duality constraints.

Findings

Metastable vacua arise naturally in the holographic QCD model.

Anomaly inflow replaces 't Hooft anomaly matching constraints.

R-symmetry breaking can be maximal in UV without destabilizing IR physics.

Abstract

We show how supersymmetric QCD in a slice of AdS can naturally acquire metastable vacua. The formulation closely follows that of Intriligator, Seiberg and Shih (ISS), with an "electric" sector on the UV brane and a "magnetic" sector on the IR brane. However the 't Hooft anomaly matching that constrains the Seiberg duality central to ISS is replaced by anomaly inflow and cancellation, and the source of strong coupling is the CFT to which the theory couples rather than the gauge groups. The theory contains an anomaly free R-symmetry that, when broken by UV effects, leads to an O'Raifeartaigh model on the IR brane. In contrast to ISS, the R-symmetry breaking in the UV can be maximal, and yet the R-symmetry breaking in the IR theory remains under strict control: there is no need for retrofitting of small parameters.